Palazzo Cristoforo Spinola

History and description

Originally owned by Cristoforo Spinola, the palace owes its fame to Tomaso Pallavicini who rebuilt it almost entirely between 1620 and 1621.

Located in the area of the 'Guastato' until a few years before the boundary of the 'planned' expansion, the building already enjoyed an enviable position at that time, being at a strategic crossroads for the new internal connections (via Balbi - largo della Zecca).

The palace, already since 1614 a meeting place for the governors of the Pallavicini family, has undergone alterations over the last three centuries that make the rubensiana edition plan unrecognisable: the general layout remains of this one (low body of the terrace at the level of the second piano nobile and lateral placement of the staircase). The monochrome façade has erased the ancient fresco decorations made between 1837 and 1838.

In the first half of the 20th century the building was the subject, together with Palazzo Filippo Lomellini, of new interventions determined by the changed road system introduced in the area: the present forepart of Palazzo Filippo Lomellini, also overlooking Via Bensa, was built, and the forepart of Palazzo Cristoforo Spinola, overlooking the same street, was built in 1930 a new public pedestrian portico, which also still exists today. …